deadman
by Deadman Chicken
Summary: my friend luciana made this in return for me doing hers enjoy!


The man ran into Skulduggery and they were both sent sprawling. Skulduggery landed next to the still body of his partner, Valkyrie, whereas the man hit a lamppost yet still stood up. Skulduggery was fast, but the man seemed to be faster as he summoned a tether of shadows and sent them hurtling towards Skulduggery. Skulduggery jumped out of the way seconds too late as the shadows hit his foot and he sent a ball of fire towards the man. The man edged closer to Skulduggery and when he was mere footsteps away from him, Skulduggery went to punch him but his punch was blocked and the man went to retaliate but Skulduggery twisted his arm backwards and his elbow met the man's nose, making a bit of a mess. Skulduggery grabbed the man and started heading towards the Bentley and shoved him into the car and spun on his heel, after slamming the door, to get Valkyrie.  
>As Skulduggery walked towards Valkyrie, he noticed something was wrong - but he couldn't place his finger on it. Valkyrie just lay there, still, her blood was mixing with the rain, he touched his collar bones and his skull was suddenly covered with a waxy skin and his eyes were blue today, his cheekbones as high as normal and sharp features. Today he didn't bother using magic to avoid the rain, he let it hit him and it looked as though he was crying... He walked up to her body and checked for a pulse, he gently put her arm down and stood next to her, just staring at her...<br>"Valkyrie...This is what I was trying to avoid..." He whispered to himself.  
>Skulduggery's phone broke the silence, at first he ignored it but it wouldn't stop ringing. He took his phone out of his pocket; he didn't answer to whatever the person was saying.<br>"She is dead."  
>A moment went by and he looked at Valkyrie's body.<br>"She is dead. Valkyrie is dead..." He said, uneasily.  
>Skulduggery hung up the phone and put it in his pocket. He stared at the ground for a while and looked up at her body again then backed away slowly, still not willing to accept it. He shook his head in disbelief and the rain dripped off of his hat, he walked round to the nearest bench to her body - he couldn't call it a corpse, she was still there - and stared at her, at how much he wanted her to be here and how much he wanted for his best friend to be there right beside him.<br>Hours went by but no-body passed by, the sun still hadn't come up yet though. Finally he mustered the courage to move her body to a more suitable place, he started walking towards her slowly, not taking his eyes of her - not once.  
>He heard a rustling and spun on his heel, he saw no-one and nothing so focused his attention on Valkyrie again, and he thought he saw her eyelashes flutter, he was sure of it. He started running towards Valkyrie when a bomb went off and he was only just hit by the blast and he was thrown through the window of a small diner and glass went everywhere.<br>Skulduggery looked up to see a young girl looking at him in astonishment; she looked around her late 20's maybe older. Skulduggery jumped to his feet and almost knocked the woman over - she must have been a waitress, he thought to himself - if it wasn't for the guy catching her she would have been on the floor. The guy that caught her was average height and had hazel eyes, Skulduggery caught a flash of them as he bolted out of the door – they looked like Valkyries. As Skulduggery bolted out the man with hazel eyes walked the waitress over to a table and sat her down to make sure she was okay, his fringe fell in front of his face and he combed his hair back with his hand and the fluffy raven black hair went with his hand, but just fell back to where it was. The waitress looked pale, and her eyes were wide – she was in shock.  
>"Are you okay? You look a bit pale…" The man said in a deep voice, his voice was quite soothing.<br>"I…I….I will…I will be….I will be fine…." She said crying.  
>"But you're not OK, are you?" He looked at her and smiled. "You can call me DC if you like,"<br>"DC? Oh…OK…then…" She looked at him innocently. "I am Gemma…or Gem to some of my friends…"  
>He took the seat next to her and calmed her down but never took one of his eyes off of what was happening outside, the man that fell through the window was fighting with someone, everyone else was oblivious to it, but he kept his attention on the girl, she was fairly pretty he thought to himself.<br>He observed her for a few minutes, how her hair was in a perfect bun with no clips in her golden brown hair, her nail varnish was grey and matched her complexion well, her eyes were an icy blue and she was quite tall, about his height. He expected she worked as a waitress while going to the University nearby, she looked like the intelligent type. She wore glasses, the big square ones, she looked pretty. She would look much better when she wasn't crying he thought to himself.  
>"Are you feeling a little bit better now?" He said looking into her eyes.<br>"I should be fine thank you," she stood up and went to grab a broom, but DC took it off of her. "You don't ha-"  
>"You should be sitting down, you are in shock, and he was thrown through a window after all. That man almost hit you as well; no-one is blaming you." He said with a comforting smile, she couldn't help but smile back at him.<br>DC tidied up as much of the glass as possible and Gemma went to 'tidy herself up' so he used a tendril of shadows to gather the last of the glass, being careful as to make sure no-one sees him using magic. Just as he picks up the last piece of glass, Gemma walks back through to the main room.  
>"Thank you DC, but you didn't have to, you know…"<br>"Yes I did, it is only right to help a lady as beautiful as you out when in distress. Has your shift ended now? You should be going home because of this." He said reassuringly.  
>"You are very sweet. My shift ended just before it all happened, that was where I was going, to get changed to go home."<br>"Okay then, you go sort your stuff out and if you'd like I can walk you home."  
>"Okay, thanks" With that she went through a door at the back of the diner leaving DC on his own staring at the shattered window.<br>The man had gone, DC noticed, he was about to walk outside to check if he wasn't just hiding but Gemma walked out again wearing a floral dress that ended above her knees and a grey cardigan to compliment the summery colours of the dress, it was coupled with a pair of red heels. The light danced off of her sparkling eyes and understated jewelry. Her hair was down now and she looked even prettier than before. Her face was thin and skeletal but in a very pretty strong way. DC just stood there and looked at her, speechless.  
>"Are you sure it's alright to walk me home? I can go on my own if –"<br>"No, it's fine. Let's go." He held out his hand to her as if to say 'let's go!'  
>She took his hand and they walked out of the door chatting as they went, DC stayed cautious though.<br>"It's this way." Gemma said pointing towards a small park, "Don't you just love Ireland? It's so pretty!"  
>"Yeah, I do. It's nearly as pretty as you…" DC said trying to hide the fact that he was blushing. Gemma blushed and looked away, embarrassed. DC laughed awkwardly and Gemma giggled at him, they both ended up giggling at each-other.<br>They walked through a patch of trees into a clearing, it was quiet and dark. Gemma got closer to DC, she looked scared and DC knew why, he could sense his presence. He was here. He was watching them…

"Let's go!" DC shouted, grabbing her hand and running to the other side of the clearing.  
>"What's happening? Where are we going" Gemma cried.<br>"Just trust me, run that way as fast as you can. Don't even stop to look back, not once."  
>"Why? I'm not leaving you on your own. You look worried and slightly scared…"<br>"I'll be fine."  
>"No, you won't. Come on, come with me. You'll just get hurt if you stay here, right?"<br>"You'll be in danger if I go with you."  
>"I'll be in danger if you don't."<br>"This is a different kind of danger…"  
>"I like danger. Danger is fun. I won't leave so you may as well put up with me."<br>"Fine, but you better-"  
>"Well, well, well…Who do we have here?" Said a voice, it seemed to be coming from one of the trees but neither of them could see anything.<br>"What's happening?" Gemma asked DC.  
>A man jumped down from a tree, he landed silently. If it wasn't for the scar across his face, Gemma thought, he'd be quite attractive. He was tall, around 6 feet and he was slender, he walked so gracefully and Gemma couldn't stop looking at him.<br>"I see you brought a friend then, Chicken."  
>"Dusk…"<br>"That is my name, well my taken name anyway."  
>"What are you doing here?"<br>"What do you think? You do know my policy of revenge right?"  
>"Of course, but you took your time…"<br>"The element of surprise, wonderful isn't it?"  
>DC whipped a tendril of shadows towards Dusk but he was too slow and Dusk was next to him in no time. Gemma didn't move, he could hear her breath, he wanted so much for her to be somewhere else - DC hated hurting people when un-necessary.<br>"This will be fun…" Dusk said playfully.  
>DC fell to the ground, he didn't know what happened. His eyelids started to feel heavy and he tried to fight it. He gave in and his eyes closed. Gemma was staring at him; she didn't know how to react. Dusk walked up to her, he was so calm, so quiet. He was so close, she expected to feel his breath on her neck, but he didn't seem to be breathing. She looked into his piercing blue eyes and that was the last thing she saw…<br>As the sun rose the light trickled through the trees and into the clearing awaking DC. DC opened his eyes to see a puddle and his reflection. He was pale and looked ill. He tried to get up but fell, awkwardly. He tried sending a tendril of shadows towards Gemma to move her closer, nothing happened. DC was hopeless; he couldn't stand and couldn't use his necromancy. He felt weak.  
>"Having fun, my little minion?" It was the same playful voice as the night before.<br>"What…what…what have you done…to us?" DC asked weakly.  
>"You're my little minion now, you're infected!" Dusk replied laughing to himself.<br>DC didn't reply and just stared at Gemma's still body, he wondered if she was okay. He dragged himself across the muddy floor, towards Gemma. Dusk just stood there, laughing. DC reached out to Gemma's hand and grabbed it.  
>"You're so pathetic." Dusk said with a smirk. "Come on, we must go. Get the girl."<br>DC tried to ignore him but couldn't disobey. He stood up and picked up Gemma, then he followed Dusk – he couldn't fight it, he just followed him and did as he said. Gemma was just laid in his arms, he knew he had to get her out of here, they were in a castle now, and it was dark and damp.  
>"Stay here; I will call you if I need you." Dusk ordered.<br>DC nodded while placing Gemma on the ground. He decided to look around and try to find a way out. DC took a few lefts and a couple of lefts now and again, after what felt like hours he found himself in front of a large wooden door. DC walked up to the door, it was damp and rotting at the bottom. He gently pushed at the door.  
>The door swung open to reveal a well-lit hall, it was fairly modernized - especially compared to the rest of the castle. DC walked cautiously towards the other side of the hall where he found a large glass window with a crack in the middle.<br>"If only…" He whispered to himself.  
>"If only what?" Said a voice from behind him, it was a woman's voice, calm and pretty.<br>DC kept staring at the window and studied his surroundings before replying, "If only I could help Gemma escape…"  
>"You want to help her escape? How considerate of you…"<br>"She doesn't deserve this, it is all my fault…I shouldn't have brought a beautiful lady like her into the horror of this world…It's an ugly world, not fit for a woman as beautiful as she…"  
>"You must think very highly of her, already. You haven't known her for very long though, have you?"<br>"She is familiar…She reminds me of a lost love I had…She is special…I care greatly about her…."  
>"Do I?"<br>As the woman said this DC spun on his heels to see her stood there, no-one else. Gemma stood there, confused and looked as though she was going to cry. He ran up to her and hugged her.  
>"I thought you'd never wake up…"<br>"I heard everything he said to you, I heard his plans…They made me realise I had to awake, not just for me or you, but for everyone…"  
>DC grabbed Gemma's hand and took off his jacket; they jumped through the window aiming for the crack and went flying through, using his jacket as a shield. They went sprawling on the grass. DC looked up for Gemma to see her laid on her back, he could now see the huge holes in her neck and the blood that had seeped out of it and now dried onto her neck. She lay still for a second before slowly pushing herself up from the wet grass, DC hadn't realised he was still laid there until she held out her hand to help him up and he took it.<br>"Well, what now?" Gemma asked him.  
>"Umm…Well…I didn't think that far ahead…." He said nervously.<br>"Well, that is alright. I am pretty sure we will think of something. We could go to Dublin maybe. I have never been to Dublin before; I have heard it is very pretty!"  
>"We could go to Roarhaven, I hear that they have put the new Sanctuary there, we might be able to find someone to help us…"<br>"Sanctuary? Huh?"  
>"I will show you."<br>DC hailed a cab andThe man ran into Skulduggery and they were both sent sprawling. Skulduggery landed next to the still body of his partner, Valkyrie, whereas the man hit a lamppost yet still stood up. Skulduggery was fast, but the man seemed to be faster as he summoned a tether of shadows and sent them hurtling towards Skulduggery. Skulduggery jumped out of the way seconds too late as the shadows hit his foot and he sent a ball of fire towards the man. The man edged closer to Skulduggery and when he was mere footsteps away from him, Skulduggery went to punch him but his punch was blocked and the man went to retaliate but Skulduggery twisted his arm backwards and his elbow met the man's nose, making a bit of a mess. Skulduggery grabbed the man and started heading towards the Bentley and shoved him into the car and spun on his heel, after slamming the door, to get Valkyrie.  
>As Skulduggery walked towards Valkyrie, he noticed something was wrong - but he couldn't place his finger on it. Valkyrie just lay there, still, her blood was mixing with the rain, he touched his collar bones and his skull was suddenly covered with a waxy skin and his eyes were blue today, his cheekbones as high as normal and sharp features. Today he didn't bother using magic to avoid the rain, he let it hit him and it looked as though he was crying... He walked up to her body and checked for a pulse, he gently put her arm down and stood next to her, just staring at her...<br>"Valkyrie...This is what I was trying to avoid..." He whispered to himself.  
>Skulduggery's phone broke the silence, at first he ignored it but it wouldn't stop ringing. He took his phone out of his pocket; he didn't answer to whatever the person was saying.<br>"She is dead."  
>A moment went by and he looked at Valkyrie's body.<br>"She is dead. Valkyrie is dead..." He said, uneasily.  
>Skulduggery hung up the phone and put it in his pocket. He stared at the ground for a while and looked up at her body again then backed away slowly, still not willing to accept it. He shook his head in disbelief and the rain dripped off of his hat, he walked round to the nearest bench to her body - he couldn't call it a corpse, she was still there - and stared at her, at how much he wanted her to be here and how much he wanted for his best friend to be there right beside him.<br>Hours went by but no-body passed by, the sun still hadn't come up yet though. Finally he mustered the courage to move her body to a more suitable place, he started walking towards her slowly, not taking his eyes of her - not once.  
>He heard a rustling and spun on his heel, he saw no-one and nothing so focused his attention on Valkyrie again, and he thought he saw her eyelashes flutter, he was sure of it. He started running towards Valkyrie when a bomb went off and he was only just hit by the blast and he was thrown through the window of a small diner and glass went everywhere.<br>Skulduggery looked up to see a young girl looking at him in astonishment; she looked around her late 20's maybe older. Skulduggery jumped to his feet and almost knocked the woman over - she must have been a waitress, he thought to himself - if it wasn't for the guy catching her she would have been on the floor. The guy that caught her was average height and had hazel eyes, Skulduggery caught a flash of them as he bolted out of the door – they looked like Valkyries. As Skulduggery bolted out the man with hazel eyes walked the waitress over to a table and sat her down to make sure she was okay, his fringe fell in front of his face and he combed his hair back with his hand and the fluffy raven black hair went with his hand, but just fell back to where it was. The waitress looked pale, and her eyes were wide – she was in shock.  
>"Are you okay? You look a bit pale…" The man said in a deep voice, his voice was quite soothing.<br>"I…I….I will…I will be….I will be fine…." She said crying.  
>"But you're not OK, are you?" He looked at her and smiled. "You can call me DC if you like,"<br>"DC? Oh…OK…then…" She looked at him innocently. "I am Gemma…or Gem to some of my friends…"  
>He took the seat next to her and calmed her down but never took one of his eyes off of what was happening outside, the man that fell through the window was fighting with someone, everyone else was oblivious to it, but he kept his attention on the girl, she was fairly pretty he thought to himself.<br>He observed her for a few minutes, how her hair was in a perfect bun with no clips in her golden brown hair, her nail varnish was grey and matched her complexion well, her eyes were an icy blue and she was quite tall, about his height. He expected she worked as a waitress while going to the University nearby, she looked like the intelligent type. She wore glasses, the big square ones, she looked pretty. She would look much better when she wasn't crying he thought to himself.  
>"Are you feeling a little bit better now?" He said looking into her eyes.<br>"I should be fine thank you," she stood up and went to grab a broom, but DC took it off of her. "You don't ha-"  
>"You should be sitting down, you are in shock, and he was thrown through a window after all. That man almost hit you as well; no-one is blaming you." He said with a comforting smile, she couldn't help but smile back at him.<br>DC tidied up as much of the glass as possible and Gemma went to 'tidy herself up' so he used a tendril of shadows to gather the last of the glass, being careful as to make sure no-one sees him using magic. Just as he picks up the last piece of glass, Gemma walks back through to the main room.  
>"Thank you DC, but you didn't have to, you know…"<br>"Yes I did, it is only right to help a lady as beautiful as you out when in distress. Has your shift ended now? You should be going home because of this." He said reassuringly.  
>"You are very sweet. My shift ended just before it all happened, that was where I was going, to get changed to go home."<br>"Okay then, you go sort your stuff out and if you'd like I can walk you home."  
>"Okay, thanks" With that she went through a door at the back of the diner leaving DC on his own staring at the shattered window.<br>The man had gone, DC noticed, he was about to walk outside to check if he wasn't just hiding but Gemma walked out again wearing a floral dress that ended above her knees and a grey cardigan to compliment the summery colours of the dress, it was coupled with a pair of red heels. The light danced off of her sparkling eyes and understated jewelry. Her hair was down now and she looked even prettier than before. Her face was thin and skeletal but in a very pretty strong way. DC just stood there and looked at her, speechless.  
>"Are you sure it's alright to walk me home? I can go on my own if –"<br>"No, it's fine. Let's go." He held out his hand to her as if to say 'let's go!'  
>She took his hand and they walked out of the door chatting as they went, DC stayed cautious though.<br>"It's this way." Gemma said pointing towards a small park, "Don't you just love Ireland? It's so pretty!"  
>"Yeah, I do. It's nearly as pretty as you…" DC said trying to hide the fact that he was blushing. Gemma blushed and looked away, embarrassed. DC laughed awkwardly and Gemma giggled at him, they both ended up giggling at each-other.<br>They walked through a patch of trees into a clearing, it was quiet and dark. Gemma got closer to DC, she looked scared and DC knew why, he could sense his presence. He was here. He was watching them…

"Let's go!" DC shouted, grabbing her hand and running to the other side of the clearing.  
>"What's happening? Where are we going" Gemma cried.<br>"Just trust me, run that way as fast as you can. Don't even stop to look back, not once."  
>"Why? I'm not leaving you on your own. You look worried and slightly scared…"<br>"I'll be fine."  
>"No, you won't. Come on, come with me. You'll just get hurt if you stay here, right?"<br>"You'll be in danger if I go with you."  
>"I'll be in danger if you don't."<br>"This is a different kind of danger…"  
>"I like danger. Danger is fun. I won't leave so you may as well put up with me."<br>"Fine, but you better-"  
>"Well, well, well…Who do we have here?" Said a voice, it seemed to be coming from one of the trees but neither of them could see anything.<br>"What's happening?" Gemma asked DC.  
>A man jumped down from a tree, he landed silently. If it wasn't for the scar across his face, Gemma thought, he'd be quite attractive. He was tall, around 6 feet and he was slender, he walked so gracefully and Gemma couldn't stop looking at him.<br>"I see you brought a friend then, Chicken."  
>"Dusk…"<br>"That is my name, well my taken name anyway."  
>"What are you doing here?"<br>"What do you think? You do know my policy of revenge right?"  
>"Of course, but you took your time…"<br>"The element of surprise, wonderful isn't it?"  
>DC whipped a tendril of shadows towards Dusk but he was too slow and Dusk was next to him in no time. Gemma didn't move, he could hear her breath, he wanted so much for her to be somewhere else - DC hated hurting people when un-necessary.<br>"This will be fun…" Dusk said playfully.  
>DC fell to the ground, he didn't know what happened. His eyelids started to feel heavy and he tried to fight it. He gave in and his eyes closed. Gemma was staring at him; she didn't know how to react. Dusk walked up to her, he was so calm, so quiet. He was so close, she expected to feel his breath on her neck, but he didn't seem to be breathing. She looked into his piercing blue eyes and that was the last thing she saw…<br>As the sun rose the light trickled through the trees and into the clearing awaking DC. DC opened his eyes to see a puddle and his reflection. He was pale and looked ill. He tried to get up but fell, awkwardly. He tried sending a tendril of shadows towards Gemma to move her closer, nothing happened. DC was hopeless; he couldn't stand and couldn't use his necromancy. He felt weak.  
>"Having fun, my little minion?" It was the same playful voice as the night before.<br>"What…what…what have you done…to us?" DC asked weakly.  
>"You're my little minion now, you're infected!" Dusk replied laughing to himself.<br>DC didn't reply and just stared at Gemma's still body, he wondered if she was okay. He dragged himself across the muddy floor, towards Gemma. Dusk just stood there, laughing. DC reached out to Gemma's hand and grabbed it.  
>"You're so pathetic." Dusk said with a smirk. "Come on, we must go. Get the girl."<br>DC tried to ignore him but couldn't disobey. He stood up and picked up Gemma, then he followed Dusk – he couldn't fight it, he just followed him and did as he said. Gemma was just laid in his arms, he knew he had to get her out of here, they were in a castle now, and it was dark and damp.  
>"Stay here; I will call you if I need you." Dusk ordered.<br>DC nodded while placing Gemma on the ground. He decided to look around and try to find a way out. DC took a few lefts and a couple of lefts now and again, after what felt like hours he found himself in front of a large wooden door. DC walked up to the door, it was damp and rotting at the bottom. He gently pushed at the door.  
>The door swung open to reveal a well-lit hall, it was fairly modernized - especially compared to the rest of the castle. DC walked cautiously towards the other side of the hall where he found a large glass window with a crack in the middle.<br>"If only…" He whispered to himself.  
>"If only what?" Said a voice from behind him, it was a woman's voice, calm and pretty.<br>DC kept staring at the window and studied his surroundings before replying, "If only I could help Gemma escape…"  
>"You want to help her escape? How considerate of you…"<br>"She doesn't deserve this, it is all my fault…I shouldn't have brought a beautiful lady like her into the horror of this world…It's an ugly world, not fit for a woman as beautiful as she…"  
>"You must think very highly of her, already. You haven't known her for very long though, have you?"<br>"She is familiar…She reminds me of a lost love I had…She is special…I care greatly about her…."  
>"Do I?"<br>As the woman said this DC spun on his heels to see her stood there, no-one else. Gemma stood there, confused and looked as though she was going to cry. He ran up to her and hugged her.  
>"I thought you'd never wake up…"<br>"I heard everything he said to you, I heard his plans…They made me realise I had to awake, not just for me or you, but for everyone…"  
>DC grabbed Gemma's hand and took off his jacket; they jumped through the window aiming for the crack and went flying through, using his jacket as a shield. They went sprawling on the grass. DC looked up for Gemma to see her laid on her back, he could now see the huge holes in her neck and the blood that had seeped out of it and now dried onto her neck. She lay still for a second before slowly pushing herself up from the wet grass, DC hadn't realised he was still laid there until she held out her hand to help him up and he took it.<br>"Well, what now?" Gemma asked him.  
>"Umm…Well…I didn't think that far ahead…." He said nervously.<br>"Well, that is alright. I am pretty sure we will think of something. We could go to Dublin maybe. I have never been to Dublin before; I have heard it is very pretty!"  
>"We could go to Roarhaven, I hear that they have put the new Sanctuary there, we might be able to find someone to help us…"<br>"Sanctuary? Huh?"  
>"I will show you."<br>DC hailed a cab and they jumped in. "Dublin!" He said.  
>They were in the cab for a few hours and they ended up having to stop for gas so DC and Gemma got out for some fresh air.<br>"So, does DC stand for anything?"  
>"Well, I guess I can tell you now…My name is actually Deadman Chicken, it's my taken name. Everyone has three names. A given name, the name your parents give you. A taken name, the name you take, mine is Deadman Chicken. The last name, the name that most people never find out, is their true name. A true name is the name you are born with, it is said that if someone knows their true name and it has been sealed then they could take down a god without a weapon…"<br>"Wow! That's amazing! But why do you need a taken name?"  
>"Your taken name protects your given name. Someone can influence you by using your given name if you don't have a taken name. A rue name is worse though… If you find out your true name after it is used, then you cannot seal it and if you say someone's true name and then an order, they can't help but do what is said. A true name can only be protected if you know what it is and it is sealed, but you don't need to know about that…"<br>"Okay…Then, where are we going?"  
>"You kids can get in again now, I've filled up and everything." Said the taxi driver, it was the first time they had heard him talk, he had a gruff voice and Gemma didn't like it.<br>"Okay, thanks." Deadman said to the taxi driver. "Come on the Gemma." He took her hand and led her to the car and opened the door for her to let her in.  
>They drove towards Dublin and were in the car for hours on end, but they were chatting all the while, not realising they had already passes Dublin a couple of hours previous… <p>


End file.
